It is well known that various governmental agencies monitor voice communications to gather intelligence information. Typically, these voice communications are monitored for content, and individuals engaged in the voice communications may or may not be known to authorities. For example, if the communication is being made from a known telephone number at a fixed address, there is no guarantee that the person registered as being responsible for paying bills for costs incurred by that telephone number is actually the person engaged in the voice communication. Moreover, with the advent and increasing popularity of, for example, pre-paid telephone cards, cellular telephones and voice over IP systems, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate a particular identity of, and information relating to, the individuals engaged in the monitored conversation.
In light of recent events, this type of monitoring is increasingly being used in an effort to prepare for or circumvent terrorist activity. Additionally, in light of recent events, it has become increasingly evident that the individuals planning and/or executing such terrorist activity have been those who have identifying information on file with various governmental agencies. For example, these individuals may be foreign nationals who are legally in the United States under student visas or who are permanent non-citizen residents of the United States, individuals with prior criminal records, prior service in the armed forces and other areas in which individual records are kept. However, the information relating to these individuals is often stored in disparate locations and under the control of various agencies that may or may not have access to one another's data.
It would be advantageous for agencies who monitor voice communications to have the ability to identify the speakers being monitored, and be provided with relevant information associated with the individuals that is available, such as, for example, known addresses, aliases, fingerprint data, DNA data, other biometric data, family history and associations.
The types of individuals identified above are routinely in contact with official governmental agencies. For example, when foreign nationals enter the country, they must present credentials to the Immigration and Naturalization Service before being allowed to enter. Those with a criminal background are routinely interviewed by parole officers. Former members of the armed forces typically receive treatment at Veterans Administration facilities and are in contact with the Department of Defense for various reasons. There are myriad circumstances in which official governmental agencies are in a position to obtain sample voice prints of these individuals. If such voice prints could be obtained, and associated with information relating to the individual, agencies monitoring voice communications would be able to quickly identify speakers being monitored, and be able to retrieve information associated with the voice print quickly for dissemination to the appropriate authorities, if necessary.
To that end, it is envisioned that a system for monitoring individuals be created in which digitized voice prints of individuals are obtained and stored in a central repository for use by authorized agencies that monitor voice communications. The digitized voice prints may be used to identify the speakers being monitored. If the conversation being monitored causes the monitoring agency, based on their predetermined alert criteria, to suspect the speakers of illegal activity, such as, for example, terrorism, or otherwise cause the monitor to seek additional information about the speakers, the monitoring agency may access information associated with the voice print and retrieve the information associated with those individuals so that this information may be passed along to the appropriate agency or organization for further action.
Alternatively, agencies monitoring conversations may store digitized voice prints of conversations of interest in a central repository for matching with voice prints of individuals that may be obtained subsequently to the monitored conversation of interest. In other words, if no match is available, and the conversation is of sufficient interest, the process may include a modification such that voice prints of unknown persons may be matched with persons having their voice sampled for storage in the database at a later time. For example, a monitoring agency may intercept a voice communication that relates to, for example, potential terrorist activity. If the database of voice prints provides no match, the voice prints of the participants in the conversation being monitored may be extracted and stored. Then, at a later time, when a voice print of a known individual is being entered into the database, for example, when applying for a U.S. student visa, as part of the storage process, the voice print being stored is also compared to the unidentified voice prints. If there is a match of the voice print being stored to any previously stored unidentified voice print, a notification of such a match may be provided to both the monitoring agency and the agency taking the voice print so that the person, who is already present at the agency taking the voice print data, may be immediately detained for further questioning or processing by the monitoring or other appropriate agency. This system would be analogous to, for example, a wanted poster using voice prints instead of pictures to identify the wanted person.
Thus, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method for identifying a speaker using digital voice prints, the method comprising: monitoring voice communications; extracting a voice sample from said monitored voice communication; storing said extracted voice sample; obtaining a voice sample of a speaker; comparing the voice sample of the speaker with the stored voice sample extracted from a monitored voice communication; and determining if there is a match; and if so, providing a notification of a match. It will be understood that voice samples are gathered based on predetermined criteria, such as, for example, when a foreign national applies for a U.S. student visa, a visitor visa or a foreign national applying for permanent resident status. Other criteria, such as those listed above, for example, may also be used to determine when a voice sample is to be taken.
As set forth above, the voice sample being obtained by an authorized agency may be associated with additional information that is stored in the memory. This additional information may serve to assist the monitors or other agencies in locating and/or ascertaining more information relating to the speaker. For example, the associated information may include the speaker's name, known aliases, last known address, last known telephone number, nationality, visa status and number, criminal record, biometric data relating to the speaker (e.g., fingerprint data, DNA data, handwriting sample, etc.), whether the speaker owns a weapon (e.g., a registered firearm), and psychological data relating to the speaker (e.g., whether the speaker has a history of violent or malevolent behavior, etc.).
The associated information may be linked to the stored voice sample by any of a wide variety of well known data structures or relational database techniques. These data structures may, for example, be in the form of a certificate or form having the characteristics or information to be associated with a particular voice sample. These data structures may be stored in a memory separate from the memory storing the voice sample, or in the same memory. In any event, it would be advantageous to efficiently link the associated data structure with the corresponding voice sample to ensure quick and accurate access to the data once a voice sample match is obtained.
Additionally, a system for monitoring individuals is contemplated. The system for monitoring individuals, comprising: a monitor for monitoring voice communications; circuitry for extracting a voice sample from said monitored voice communication; a memory for storing said extracted voice sample; circuitry for obtaining a voice sample of a speaker; a processor for comparing the voice sample of the speaker with the stored voice sample extracted from a monitored voice communication, determining if there is a match, and if so, outputting a notification of a match.